Don't You Dare
by EmmelineVance713
Summary: Written for the IWSC Round 8. Title sucks.


A/N:

School: Mahoutokoro

Year: 6

Word Count: 2029

Theme: Medical Muggle AU

Main Prompt: [job] teacher

Secondary Prompts: [speech] "Don't you dare [add any action here]!" , [action] Watching someone from afar

OK so the teacher is Remus and what James is trying to become, the "Don't you dare" is used several times to demonstrate the passion of the characters in relation to one another, and James/Lily look at each other from far away quite often and quite creepily. Also, Sirius stalks someone for like a few minutes. Depends what you mean by afar, really. This is like a weird tangled time-skippy sitcom thing.

I'm so sorry it's late, I didn't have time to beta/clean yesterday. I'm taking the deduction rather than no points, but I hope you like it anyway :)

**Age 25:**

She looked radiant under the fluorescent lights of the operating room. Her hair matched the shining blood staining her gloved fingers and the sanitary tissue lining the equipment tray. A tall, lean man strode from one side of the table to her side, pressing a glistening scalpel into her hand.

"Don't shake so much, you're making me nervous, you prat." She murmured, elbowing Sirius away from her side. "James, c' mere a second. I need your extraction skills. Stop looking at me like that, it's creepy." He hadn't realized he'd been staring from all the way across the room until he blinked and realized his vision had become fuzzy.

"What do you need, I swear you've got it under control. Didn't you do this to like 6 cadavers?" But, despite the teasing, he gently extracted what she needed from the body and laid it on a sample tissue. "We should be good to proceed now." And they were, and it was only a brisk twenty minutes before the surgery wrapped up and they were free to take a break.

He'd walked down the hallway behind her as she pulled her vibrating phone out of her pocket, along with a piece of paper. It was folded tightly but she grasped it even tighter.

"Hi, Lily Evans." Muffled words emitting from a speaker. "Yes, I know the deadline is tomorrow. It's just hard to make a decision like this. I have to be sure to take the responsibility." Louder muffled words came through the phone. "Yes, of course. I know that I'm forcing you to do this last minute, and I'm sorry. I just want to be ready before I accept. Yeah. Bye." She shook her head and clenched her fist, nearly crumpling the precious paper inside. James watched her frustration and pieced the puzzle together in his mind.

"Hey, Evans! What're you holding?" Peter shouted, skipping down the hallway to catch up with his superior. Although he was a short man, her legs weren't much longer than his, and it took no time for the secretary to match pace with the surgeon.

"She's holding a letter of recommendation for a promotion. Old Brounsforth is retiring and she's being asked to step up. However, she's been debating and nebbishing for so long that they're annoyed and she's just shooting herself in the foot at this point." James exhaled, seeing the surprised look on her face that assured him he was right.

"But it's not that simple, I mean, I can't just take a job like this-"

"Like what? It's the same job, but now you don't have a 65-year-old pervert breathing down your neck during operations! Now you can control things around here."

"I think he's right…" Peter murmured, stepping closer to Lily.

"Don't you dare reject that promotion!" James whispered as he passed. "When have I ever led you astray?" His face spread into a cocky grin as he walked back towards the breakroom, crashing into a filing cabinet by mistake and letting out a grunt. Lily ducked her face in her sleeve and chuckled, thinking about James and his words as she strolled past Peter and towards the office of soon-to-be-former Dr. Brounsforth.

**Age 26:**

"Gather round, lady and gents," Sirius called loudly, summoning James, Lily, and Peter from where they were congregated around the microwave. "Your calzones can wait." Sighing heavily as she stepped away from the delicious and steaming pizza roll, Lily's hair smacked Peter in the nose as she turned.

"Ok, who's that?" She gasped, laying eyes on a rugged stranger in a worn tan jacket and tight leather pants. He languidly left his position next to Sirius and stretched out a calloused hand. Expecting a handshake, she grasped it, but the man pulled her into a warm hug.

"Oi, what about the rest of us?" Peter bellowed, wiping a stray crumb from his chin.

"I believe some introductions are in order," James crowed, staring at Sirius and looking back and forth from his friend to the man hugging Lily.

"Sorry about Moony, he's a hugger. But anyway, guys, this is Remus. Remus Lupin. He's my," he paused as Remus broke the embrace and stepped back to take his hand. "Boyfriend." Peter and James immediately exchanged glances and Lily blushed, regretting her initial feelings of attraction.

"So, how long?" She asked to break the tension.

"We've been seeing each other on the down-low for about two months now. He met me when picking up his niece from school. I'm her teacher, you see." Remus grinned as he mentioned his profession.

"Remus here, he graduated Summa Cum Laude from an American university," Sirius boldly declared. "He had a degree, high-profile opportunities, but he settled down in his hometown to teach." Remus flushed burgundy, tenderly shoving Sirius' shoulder.

"It wasn't that simple. I grew up here and I know most of the young parents from my childhood. While in the United States, I worked part-time at daycare to get some food and rent money. I really fell in love with kids in those few months, and put my history studies to use. Now, I teach first graders. In my opinion, I would've done fine in another job relating to my college degree, but finding my real passion along the way saved me years. And," he bashfully ducked his head and leaned into Sirius. "It led me here."

James looked at Lily out of the corner of his eye. She was rosy-cheeked and excited as she talked to the new couple, positively glowing. She really was lovely. God, he needed to stop watching her, or he'd fall deeper into the pit and lose his grip on the earth above.

They sat in the breakroom later that night, gingerly sipping coffee.

"Y'know, I've been thinking about what that Remus guy said earlier. If I'm so enamored with the kids here but not the actual work I'm doing, why not do something else with kids and teachers like him?" He paused thoughtfully, raising the chipped mug to his lips. Lily shook her head and drew attention to the curly wisps of hair that had escaped her normally tight ponytail. God, she was beautiful like this. Then again, she was always beautiful.

"Don't you dare leave! I don't think I can run this place with just Sirius and Peter. Who'll replace you, Marge? Dr. Gideon from downstairs?" They shared a tentative laugh, each subtly inching closer to the other around the wooden table. James paused, staring at the dregs of his drink before uttering his last words.

"I was just thinking. No harm in thinking, right? Just mulling it over."

**Age 27:**

Sirius watched from outside the room as red and black hair was frantically mussed. Hands roamed, lips met, and James was notably, and gratefully, absent. But, alas, Sirius had spoken too soon, and a lithe man strolled into the breakroom as the couple sprung apart.

"So, Lily, if you're not too busy with-" he squinted at the nametag. "Dr. Gideon from downstairs over here, we need to discuss today's tonsil removal. The kid's mouth is really swollen." The redhead flushed and made a point of straightening her lab coat, drawing attention to a sparkling ring on her left hand. Sirius gasped, stumbling forward to catch her falling fingers.

"Is that?" He nearly shrieked.

"Well, yes, Rufus did just ask me. We've been seeing each other for months, after all." James hid his crestfallen expression so well that only Sirius, his best friend, could see the pain behind the giddy smile. And, if he looked closely, the delight that should've been in Lily's was missing. But, Remus had told him to let the chips fall where they may and not force anything yet. So he bit his tongue, something he was not accustomed to doing.

"Don't you dare forget to invite me! To the wedding, that is," James muttered, a cheery grin plastered across his face. Awkwardly breaking the tension of the room, he turned on his heel and sped out.

**Age 28:**

She sped down the hallway, hearing the cackling from the neighboring room. No no no no no Sirius why'd you tell him no no no no! But James was in the corridor now, and there was no escape when he wanted to talk to you. No, interrogate you.

"Don't you dare walk away from me!" He bellowed, increasing the speed of his walk to a near jog. "You broke it off with dear old Gid?" Blushing as she turned to meet him, Lily issued a single nod. "But why? You were inseparable!" James cried, trying to prevent a satisfied smile from spreading to his face.

"It wasn't right for him. He wasn't the one for me. It just felt forced, like he was more invested and I just wasn't ready." Returning to their brisk stroll, she expected him to return to his intense annoying questionnaire, but he simply fell into step beside her.

"You know, I'm always on the table if you need to test what you need in 'the one'."

"Oh, sod off. Why don't I just go become one of Peter's many girlfriends? It'll have the same effect!" James paused, keeping the news to himself that Peter had proposed to Naomi on Thursday.

"Good thing you're rejecting me now. I don't go for gingers." She playfully slapped him.

**Age 29:**

"Well, guy and girl, before we head in," James turned to look at Lily and Sirius. "This is my last surgery here. I take a position as an elementary school P.E. coach next Tuesday. Your husband-" He shot a look at his long-haired companion. "Actually helped me get the job. I'll still come by and annoy you guys, don't worry." Sirius clapped his best friend on the back, knowing full well he how had two excuses to skulk around the school.

Lily was at a complete loss for words. Ever since they were 26, James would offhandedly mention teaching, but she shrugged it off as idle planning and not an actual possibility. The past several years flashed before her eyes. Every trial and hardship, she'd had James to help her through it. He was the reason she'd accepted a promotion when they were 25, the reason she'd broken off her engagement (which she hadn't realized until this moment), the only opinion she cared about. She had always loved him as a dear friend, but this was more. This was passionate, unrealized, unrequited love.

Shaken out of her reverie, she hurried into the operating room after the boys.

"Hey, Evans? Did you get a haircut? It suits you." James commented before pulling on his gloves in the corner. She self-consciously touched her hair, the ends crisp and clean after a several-inches trimmed.

"James." It wasn't a summons, just a statement. She saw him turn around at the sink, pulling off gloves and compulsively washing his hands twice.

"Hey." He finished his rinsing and walked towards her, slightly too close for her comfort now. "I'm gonna miss you, you know. But I'm not going to leave forever, like actually leave you, like I'm only going to work in the next town over, and maybe I'll hate it, or the kid will hate m-" She cut him off with a solid punch in the shoulder.

"Don't you dare leave forever," she hissed. "Or I will never do this again."

He paused, at a loss for words, and she hopped on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips. Immediately he responded, pulling her in and threading his hands through her freshly cut hair. She inhaled sharply as his lips met hers with passion, pent-up longing from when they were in their early twenties and still loved each other to now.

"Oi, dumbasses! Get a room, will you? Some of us were about to eat lunch." They broke apart and whirled around as Sirius gagged, and when he turned his back, Lily flipped him the bird.

"So, where were we?" She asked, breathless and enraptured as she looked into James' eyes.

"I'm not leaving you, ever."

"Right. Don't you dare." And she kissed him again.


End file.
